Hi John,
Yesterday the government announced it will cut the international aid budget by £4 billion next year and every year indefinitely, despite predictions that more than 100 million people in the global south could be pushed into poverty by the pandemic.
The move breaks Boris Johnson’s manifesto commitment to meet the 0.7% target and deals a major blow to the UK’s ability to lead increased international action as hosts of the COP26 climate talks next year. It’s deeply disappointing news, but it continues the direction of travel of this government.
The Chancellor claimed it was a ‘tough choice’ necessitated by the coronavirus crisis, but at the same time he announced £16 billion of new military spending. That’s not ‘tough’, it’s wrong – and they’re hoping they can get away with it.
We can’t let this stand. Can you contact your MP now and ask them to oppose these cuts?
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Don’t cut aid, spend it properly
Our collective efforts in recent days have mobilised opposition across society to this measure. So far it has not been enough to stop these cuts in their tracks, but it’s not over yet. It looks like the government will need to bring in new legislation to make the cuts happen, so there will be an opportunity to test where each and every MP stands on this.
After years of diverting more and more aid spending to benefit big business and British foreign policy, and then abolishing the Department for International Development in the summer, it is clear this government thinks attacking aid is good politics. The only way to change this is to keep campaigning, and keep educating ourselves and each other.
The aid budget is a small and imperfect recognition of the UK’s historic responsibility to countries and continents it has colonised, and it continues to be worth fighting for. We need to push not just for this aid cut to be blocked, but for every penny of the aid budget to be spent properly on ending poverty and tackling inequality, not repurposed for the self-interest of ‘Global Britain’. There can be no more funding for fossil fuels, unaffordable private hospitals or things like luxury hotels using UK aid.
That’s why as well as opposing these cuts, we need to make sure that aid spending continues to be scrutinised in parliament following the abolition of the Department for International Development. A vote is expected on this in the coming weeks. Can you contact your MP now and ask them to fight to protect aid and spend it properly?
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Thank you,
Daniel Willis
Campaigner, Global Justice Now
PS. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is answering questions about the spending review on Twitter on Monday. If you’re on Twitter, reply to ask him how he can justify these aid cuts.
Notes
1. Dominic Raab says legislation is needed to cut UK aid spending, The Guardian, 26 November 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/26/no-new-legislation-needed-cut-uk-aid-budget-rishi-sunak
2. COVID-19 to Add as Many as 150 Million Extreme Poor by 2021, World Bank, 7 October 2020, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/10/07/covid-19-to-add-as-many-as-150-million-extreme-poor-by-2021
3. Aid cuts are a ‘betrayal’ of UK’s historic responsibility, Global Justice Now, 25 November 2020,
https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/news/2020/nov/25/aid-cuts-are-betrayal-uks-historic-responsibility
4. The future of aid after DfID: Shocking development projects supported by the UK, July 2020,
https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/resources/future-aid-after-dfid-shocking-development-projects-supported-uk
5. Re-imagining UK aid: What a progressive strategy could look like’, Global Justice Now, July 2017,
https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/news/2017/jul/23/after-year-aid-scandals-new-report-lays-out-progressive-strategy-uks-07-spending
6. Honest Accounts 2017: How the world profits from Africa’s wealth, May 2017, https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/resources/honest_accounts_2017_web_final_updated.pdf
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